Percy Jackson, A New Life
by KratosRain4
Summary: Juno decides to make sure the Great Prophecy resolves itself in her favor. To do so she decides to send Percy Jackson, Son of Neptune, and her first Champion to camp Half-Blood. Eventual PercyxBianca
1. Chapter 1

**Percy Jackson, A New Life**

**A/N This is an AU story where Percy is a Roman demigod and Hera/Juno brings him to Camp Half-Blood a few days before the Sea of Monsters events in an attempt to control the Great Prophecy. Eventual PercyxBianca**

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus, not me. I also don't own Lord of the Flies.**

**Chapter I The Start of a New Life**

"So Kronos is trying to bring another pawn into play by poisoning that tree my idiot Husband turned his newest daughter into. Well, let us see how he reacts when I put my own pawn into play. My Champion is much more powerful than _that girl_ as he has easily proven during his time at Camp Jupiter." Juno had watched over the boy since he was a small child. She was the Goddess of Marriage after all and through her powers she had known when Neptune had broken his vows to be with a mortal woman. She had sensed that the child was powerful when she had gone to check on the mother. No doubt he would prove to be more powerful than all of her idiot husband's children, especially the arrogant prick Hercules.

Juno had another champion she could use, but young Jason was exactly that, _young_, and when Thalia was brought back into play then many complications would arise. Juno had no doubt that Thalia would wake up, if Kronos failed to do so in his latest plot then Jupiter would probably try to do so himself sooner or later. It was time she paid another visit to her first champion. He would need instruction and probably a little bit of her power for her ploy to be successful. In a few days she would make her move. The Great Prophecy would resolve itself in her favor one way or another; she would make sure of it, she had to make sure of it.

Line Break

Perseus Jackson, Son of Neptune and Centurion of the Fifth Cohort, was tired. He had just come back from a party after winning the War Games with his formerly disgraced cohort. Normally winning the games was a great accomplishment since it helped bring some amount of honor back to his cohort, but the party afterwards was terrible. Well, the party itself was fine; the terrible part had come mainly from the arrogant little prick known as Octavian. He was an upstart Centurion from the First Cohort and Camp Jupiter's Augur who had decided to also become a politician, the bane of soldiers everywhere. It was widely known in New Rome that Perseus was in line to become a Praetor and Octavian had lately been doing everything he could to try and weasel into his good graces. Perseus had to be on guard whenever Octavian was near. Thankfully, since he was a Centurion he had his own private room to retire to. It was small, but it was more than the regular legionnaires, who had to share a room with nine other people.

Perseus had just finished praying to Neptune and Juno ‒ his father and Patron respectively ‒ when there was a flash of light and Juno herself was standing in front of him. Juno frequently paid him visits in his dreams to talk about various events, but for her to visit him in person meant that she had something important to tell him. He dropped into a low bow before his Patron and said, "Your will my lady."

"I know. Arise and be seated my Champion, I have need of you once more."

"Of course my lady."

Perseus knew at once when Juno summoned a chair of her own and sat down that he would most likely be there all night. Well, there goes his sleep. Indeed it was early morning when Juno finished explaining about the fact that the gods had a Greek aspect in addition to their Roman aspect, and the subsequent existence of Greek demigods. She said that the two demigod groups constantly got into wars and the existence of the other camp remained a closely guarded secret from the other after what the mortals dubbed the American Civil War. The Roman demigods had defeated the Greeks, but the Greek's mortal allies had defeated the Roman's allies. The resulting stalemate forced the gods to take drastic action to prevent such an event from occurring again. "I understand what you have told me my lady, but if you don't mind me asking what does this have to do with me?"

"I am glad you asked Perseus. I need you to spend the next couple of years at the Greek camp in order to assist in bringing about the end to Kronos' second attempt at defeating the gods. As they are, the Greeks will be no match for the Titan Army. However, I have no doubt in my mind that you will be able to change that. I fully expect you to change campers into soldiers and you will need a couple years to do so. You will need to become the leader the Greeks so sorely lack."

Juno gave Perseus a few moments to let that sink in. He was stunned at the massive task she had delegated to him; he would have to leave his home and all of his friends for a few years to fight in what he would think of as a foreign war, but like a good Roman he showed no change in emotion other than a slight widening of his eyes. Romans never showed weakness, and even though she was his Patron and he trusted her above all others, he stayed true to his Roman values. Juno was mildly impressed as most others would have freaked out at the monumental task, but one of the reasons she had chosen Perseus to delegate this task to, was because she knew he would accept and he would complete it to the best of his abilities no matter how much it pained him. And accept it he did.

"My lady I will do as you ask, but I foresee a few problems. Since the Greeks use Ancient Greek instead of Latin as we do, how will I be able pass myself as a Greek? Also what will we do about my SPQR tattoo? I have grown fond of it and I have no wish to lose it, but will not the Greeks demigods and gods notice it? And what shall we do about my belongings?"

Juno was once again mildly impressed at him, because of his foresight. However, she had already planned everything out. "Those are good questions. To answer the first question, you should have no problems understanding Ancient Greek. Your mother apparently brought your father's two aspects together into one." She noticed him scowl slightly at the mention of his mother and father, but Juno continued on. "To answer your second question, I will use the mist to disguise your tattoo. Everyone who doesn't know about the existence of the Roman demigods will only see the tridents and the peacock and possibly the SPQR if they are adept at seeing through the mist. However, those who do know about the existence of the Roman demigods will see the full tattoo so you will have to be careful around the gods and a few others."

Perseus was relieved. His SPQR tattoo was just as much a part of him as his beating heart. The tattoo had the letters SPQR with crossed tridents above them and a peacock in the middle of them, while underneath he had seven bars of service. He had to work hard to earn respect since he was a son of Neptune. Neptune lost respect after the 1906 earthquake incident by one of his descendants that had almost completely destroyed Camp Jupiter and New Rome. Neptune had regained some respect from the Romans when one of his sons led the Romans and their mortal allies to victory in the Pacific Theater during World War II, but it wasn't enough. Actually Perseus had a second tattoo. He had a tattoo of a wolf with its maw open and its sharp teeth showing on his left, but he doubted that he would have to hide it. He had gotten it to pay tribute to Lady Lupa, and many other Romans told him that it looked scary.

"To answer your third question, I will bring most of your belongings to your new cabin once you arrive there. I say most, because you will not be able to bring your armor and weapons. I will gift to you a special gladius, but you will have to obtain other weapons on your own time. I will however, conceal your purple Camp Jupiter shirts the same way I am going to conceal your tattoo. This time most will only see the laurel branches and not think anything of it, but once again you must be careful around the gods and some others that I will warn you about later.

That brings me to my next point, you must be extremely careful around the camp director and the activities director. They are Dionysus, the Greek version of Bacchus, and Chiron respectively. They are the most likely to notice your Roman heritage since you will be around them the most. Chiron will certainly notice your Roman fighting style, but he will not say anything about you being Roman unless he absolutely has too. Regardless I want you to do your best to keep your true heritage in the dark. I expect you to come up with an appropriate cover story of course, but if you are revealed at any time I will step in to do what I must. Now, I suggest you get some measure of sleep. You do not need to pack your belongings since I will simply transport them over. I will return at seven to transport you. You will not be going directly to Camp Half-Blood; instead I will bring you to a school where a daughter of Athena is going to go. She will be trying to pick up a demigod that a faun recently discovered. You will arrive there seemingly by chance and go to camp with them. I will call a meeting of the Senate and tell them that I am giving you a task that will last a few years so they do not think you deserted. I have faith in you my Champion, I am sure you will make me proud."

At that Juno departed. She had told him to get some sleep, but Perseus didn't think he would be able to. Instead he decided he would use this time to write notes to his friends. Juno would probably tell Jason something about his disappearance, but he still wanted to write a note to his fellow Champion. He had become like a little brother to Perseus over the course of their time in the legion. He would also write notes to Gwen and Dakota, his closest friends other than Jason. He was close to some others in the Fifth Cohort but not close enough to require a personal letter. They would probably be crushed when they learned about his disappearance since he had helped return honor to the Fifth Cohort, but Jason would rise to the task in a few years. Perseus had taught Jason all that he could and he had no doubt in his mind that Jason would become a great leader in time. He hoped Jason would become Praetor eventually as well. When he returned he was going to run for Praetor and then maybe the two of them could rule together. Two Praetors from the Fifth Cohort would bring much honor upon it and Jason knew exactly how Perseus worked. Together they were truly a force to be reckoned with.

After finishing his letters, Perseus decided to ask Juno to give his armor and most of his weapons to Jason and Dakota. He wanted Gwen to have his pugio. Then he decided to take a nighttime stroll around New Rome. He would be leaving soon and it would be many years till he returned so he wanted to make the most of his remaining time here. While he walked about, he reminisced about his time. He remembered when he was just a legionnaire and he played a huge part in winning the War Games for the Fifth Cohort for the first time in more than twenty years. He remembered challenging that cocky Centurion of the First Cohort to a duel in the Coliseum for insulting Gwen a year later. He had defeated the boy with only his bare hands and a pugio. Perseus hadn't even worn armor either. The Centurion ended up being replaced later that week by a less cocky soldier. He remembered the infamous Feast of Fortuna a few years after where the fauns had somehow ‒ with Dakota's help ‒ managed to steal and drink several barrels of wine and then covered half of New Rome in flowers when they began to play their pipes and sing. All five cohorts had to work together to remove all of the plants since the fauns were too hung over to do so themselves. The next Feast of Fortuna the wine had been placed under heavy guard. That was also the night he had received his first kiss. Gwen and he had actually been ordered to guard the wine, but Jason and Dakota had covered their shift instead. Since they were technically on duty he and Gwen had snuck off to the Garden of Bacchus. There they had both shared their first kiss with each other… and second kiss, and third, and fourth. He then remembered all of the various moments he had shared with his three friends over the years.

He really wished he could say goodbye to Gwen, Dakota, and Jason in person but he knew Juno wanted to leave as soon as possible. He and Gwen weren't dating since they really didn't have time to do so, but had he become Praetor he would have appointed her his replacement as Centurion and then asked her out soon after. So far they were just friends, but still she was the closest thing to a girlfriend he had ever known. As Perseus paused his reminiscing for a moment, he realized he was standing in the exact spot in the Gardens of Bacchus that Gwen and he had kissed so many years ago. It was his favorite spot in New Rome. He was brought out of his musing by the very girl he had just been thinking about.

"Hey Percy. I see you're standing in our spot."

"Hey Gwen," he said, trying his best not to let depression seep into his voice. He apparently failed. Well, that or the fact that Gwen always seemed to know what he was really feeling.

"What's wrong Perce? You're usually not up this late and I know you were tired last night so something must be on your mind."

"You know I could ask the same thing."

She turned and looked at where the sun was starting to rise. "I just felt like something big was going to happen today and I couldn't manage to fall asleep. Well, Dakota's snoring played a part too," She said with a halfhearted chuckle. She was obviously worried. Since she was here Perseus decided that he would let her know now that he was going to leave for a few years. She would probably take it the hardest. If he left without telling her personally now, she would hate him forever.

"Gwen," he started with a sigh as she turned to him with worry clear on her face. He hated to do this to her, but he couldn't disobey his Patron, not after all she had done for him. "Juno came to see me last night. She told me that I'm going to have to leave to perform a huge quest for her."

"Why are you so sad then? It wouldn't be the first time."

"I'll be gone much longer than the all of the other times."

"How long?"

Perseus felt horrible. Gwen looked ready to cry already, but like a true Roman she refused to let the tears fall. She probably suspected his answer, but he knew he had to tell her to finalize it anyway. "A few years."

Gwen turned away again, she refused to cry. She refused! She was a Roman and they didn't show tears! Her tear ducts didn't want to hold back her grief and sorrow though. She felt a hand on her shoulder offering silent support. She turned back to Percy and launched herself into his arms. "Percy you better come back you here. I don't care how long it takes, just promise that you will come back."

"I will Gwen."

"Say the words!" She cried out despite the fact that she had buried her head in Percy's Camp Jupiter Shirt.

"I promise Gwen. I will come back, no matter how long it takes." At this point Percy felt like crying himself, but he had to hold himself together. At least for Gwen's sake; she needed him to be strong now more than ever.

"Good. You've never broken a promise before so I know you'll come back." She took her head off of his chest and put her soft hands on his cheeks, guiding his head down so she could meet his eyes with her own. She closed her teary eyes and leaned up. She gave him a soft kiss on the lips. Percy kissed her back just as softly and couldn't help but feel deep sadness like he hadn't felt ever before. It seemed like through the kiss she was magnifying his sorrow with her own. He could feel her tears running down her cheeks onto his only to pool where their lips met. She pulled back after a few seconds and opened her tear filled eyes to look at him in the eyes again. "I wanted to make sure I didn't have any regrets and that no matter what happens you'll remember me." She sobbed out still trying her hardest to reign in her tears and failing.

"Gwen," He choked out. "I could never forget you."

"A few years is a long time Percy. I'm sure you'll find someone else to love. You always did have that special something that drew people to you and made everyone want to believe in you despite the odds."

He wanted to tell her that he could never love anyone else, but he knew in his heart that if he made that promise, it might be the only one he would ever break. So instead he drew her closer to him in a hug and stayed silent. After what seemed like hours but was probably a few minutes, they drew apart. When he opened his eyes again, he saw his other two best friends walking up.

"Had a bad dream Perce," Dakota said. "So did Jase, so he decided to come up here with me to clear our heads."

"We heard the whole thing Perce," Jason said. "It won't be the same without you bro."

Percy was sure he had Juno or Lady Vesta to thank for bringing the four of them together for the last time for a couple of years, but at this point he didn't care. He was just glad he had one last chance to say goodbye.

"You've been like the brother I've never had Jason. I'll miss you too bro."

"Hey what about me!?" Dakota yelled with halfhearted indignation. It was obvious that both he and Jason were pretty broken up over this too.

Gwen managed to piece herself together enough to respond for Percy. "Are you kidding me Dakota? You're obviously the brother no one wants but secretly likes. Especially with all that snoring, I mean come on; you keep the whole Cohort up half the night. It's like you keep bear hidden in your bunk somehow."

"It's just one of those unsolved mysteries Gwen." Jason stated.

"Come on Perce you're on my side at least right?"

"Sorry Dakota, but they're right."

"Oh come on! I get no love." Dakota shouted, having succeeded in cheering them up, if only for a little bit.

"Dakota, when I leave I want you and Jason to split up my weapons and armor. Here Jason take my gladius," Percy said as he removed his sheathed gladius from his belt and handed it to Jason.

"In return Perce I want you to have my pocket watch. You'll need it more than me wherever you're going," Dakota said. It was a gold watch that told time in Roman Numerals with a steel chain attached to it. It was enchanted to always tell the correct time and date regardless of the time zone. It also allowed one to tell what time it was in different areas by simply thinking of them while looking at it. It had once been Dakota's grandfathers and it had passed down to Dakota. The enchantment had actually come from Dakota's father, Bacchus. Looking in Dakota's eyes, Percy knew that it meant a lot to Dakota to give it to him.

"Thanks bro, I'll hold onto until I can come back and give it to you." Percy turned to Gwen. "Gwen I want you to have this," he said as he removed from his belt his pugio ‒ the very pugio he used to defend her honor all those years ago ‒ and gave it to her. He could tell it meant a lot to her based on the look in her eyes. Then for what would be the last time in many years, the four best friends shared a group hug.

After what seemed like hours, Juno herself appeared in front of the hugging friends in a golden flash of light. "Come Perseus. It is time."

The four reluctantly detached themselves from Percy and let him walk over to Juno.

"Be safe and make sure to come back Percy."

"Take care Perce."

"See you Percy bro."

Percy took Juno's hand. "Are you ready Perseus?"

Percy took one last look back at his friends. Gwen had seemed to give up trying to hold her tears back and was now crying openly. Dakota and Jason were better off, though only slightly as they too had tears running down their cheeks. No one was saying anything about this un-Roman-like emotional display however; Percy had no doubt that he had a few tears running his cheeks as well. As he looked back at his best friends, he gave Juno a short nod. They disappeared in a golden flash as he said goodbye to his old life. It would be many years until he had once again returned to his home and the four friends were able to reunite. By that time all four would have changed. It was truly sad, but that day had marked the death of innocence and childlike dreams in all four friends. Through heartbreak, tears, and sorrow they had all grown up. They had all begun the path to a new life.

Line Break

Perseus walked into the school where he would 'bump into' the daughter of Athena. The school was called Meriwether College Prep. It was some 'progressive' school in downtown Manhattan. Based on what his Patron had told him and what he was seeing, he was glad that he didn't really have to go here. His cover story was that he was looking for a school to go to, but there was no way he would ever go here willingly. The teachers were all wearing jeans and rock concert shirts and the only chairs were beanbag chairs. How anyone ever got work done here he would never know.

An hour later he learned that they didn't actually get work done. The teachers didn't give grades and based on the English final he sat in on, they didn't have control over the students either. The English final actually consisted of an hour of unsupervised teens and preteens being left in a playground to try and reenact _Lord of the Flies_. Well the crazy students succeeded. Within five minutes after the teachers left the playground erupted in mass pandemonium. Well, at least some good came out of the whole experience. Perseus found the demigod who attended this school. He also found out that said demigod was best friends with a Cyclops; a baby Cyclops that was apparently a baby in more ways than one. He had started crying the moment he got picked on by a group of bullies. Perseus had then discovered that said group of bullies included Laistrygonian Giants. Well, unluckily for them he was in a bad mood. He couldn't wait to vent his emotions by killing monsters. Lastly, he found out that the daughter of Athena was absolutely terrible at sneaking. Just because you may be invisible doesn't mean that you don't cast a shadow. I mean really one would think that a daughter of the goddess of wisdom would know that.

The group of bullies had come over to either recruit him or bully him, but they backed off after he gave them one of his trademarked 'wolf-glares'. It was a glare he developed during his time with Lady Lupa and had perfected during his years at Camp Jupiter. It seemed to say 'you may be bad, but I'm one thousand times worse than you could ever dream to be'. His glare combined with his looks made the group ‒ and everyone else ‒ stay away from him for the rest of the hour.

Perseus had a mop of spiky black hair that refused to be tamed and his bangs fell down and slightly covered his sea green eyes. He had a scar over the right side of his lips, that was thicker and longer than Jason's, that he had received when he was six years old during the events that led to Juno taking him to the Wolf House. He was buff, but not overly so. He had the kind of lean muscles that one developed through years of combat. He had on jeans with a steel chain for a belt. Attached to the belt was the chain leading to Dakota's pocket watch that he kept in his right pocket. Also attached to his belt, on his right hip, was the gladius Juno had given to him upon arrival this morning. It was enchanted so that the mortals didn't even notice it. He was wearing an enchanted black leather jacket on top of his purple Camp Jupiter shirt. Since he wouldn't have armor for a while, the jacket was enchanted to be as strong as padded boiled leather. It was also self-repairing.

In addition to the gladius and jacket, Juno had given him her blessing. Since she was his Patron and he was her Champion she was able to give him her full blessing. Now Perseus had power over minds. His ability to manipulate the mist was much more powerful. In addition his mind was shielded from even gods and he could read minds in return. The mind reading would take time to control however. Juno told him that right now he would _probably_ have to make and keep eye contact in order to read minds and even then he would only be able to read surface thoughts. Eventually he would be able to sift through people's recent thoughts and memories from across the room. Juno had also told him that in order to read someone's mind, his willpower would need to be more powerful than his target's. As a result he would be able to easily read the thoughts of mortals, but demigods, monsters, and mythical creatures would be much harder, and gods would be near impossible unless they were really distracted. His powers also allowed him to cloak his demigod aura, hence the six unsuspecting Giants. They were no doubt anticipating an easy meal, but they were in for a surprise.

Perseus waited while discretely watching the two demigods, the Cyclops, and the Giants. Based on what he had overhead from the lead bully, some prick named Matt Sloan, P.E. was going to be when the demigod and his Cyclops friend would be beaten down in dodgeball. It was also most likely when the Giants would make their move. Perseus didn't want to trust in a daughter of Athena that was too stupid to hide her shadow, so he got ready to do most of the heavy lifting when the fighting inevitably broke out. That was fine with him; he was going to vent his emotions after all. Besides its not like he couldn't handle six giants with little to no help; he had faced worse odds before. Honestly, Perseus doubted that he would even have to use his powers.

P.E. finally arrived. Perseus just walked into the gym with his hands in his jeans pockets since he didn't have a gym uniform to change into and there was no way he'd be caught dead in the uniform that Meriwether had. It consisted of sky blue shorts and tie-dyed shirts. Gods but they looked like a bunch of juvenile delinquent hippies. As he walked by the unsuspecting demigod, Perseus briefly made eye contact and read his surface thoughts. Apparently he was named Will Solace and his Cyclops friend was named Tyson and he had a bunch of strange scars on his back. He filed that information away in case it was needed. At the very least it was interesting. It showed that the Cyclops ‒ Tyson ‒ had a violent past. Based on the fact that he had cried so easily when Sloan had begun to pick on him, Tyson probably received those scars while being picked on by someone or some_thing_ else.

As he watched the jocks and popular kids walk over to Sloan's side, he decided to walk over to 'nerd' side which is where Will and Tyson were. It made no difference in the long run as he planned to stick it to the bullies before the Giants attacked.

Just like he planned, Sloan called out. "Hey new kid what's your name?"

"Matt Bell," he replied. No need to give out his real name. He didn't need to be connected to whatever the mortals would decide went down in this gym when the Giants attacked and he killed them.

"You look pretty cool Bell, so why don't you come over to our side instead with those nerds?'

"Well, Sloan you're a bully and I don't side with arrogant, weak little pricks who feel the need to hide their own inadequacies by picking on others. So no, I'll stand right where I am." He could see the vein on Sloan's temple pulsing as he and those around him reddened in anger.

"You're dead!" Sloan shouted. "No matter how tough you think you are your team is weak and outnumbered. We'll destroy you and when were done beating you down in dodgeball, we'll beat you down for real!"

"I look forward to it," Perseus said. His lips quirked into a smirk that made even the Giants shiver. It was the smirk of someone who had stared Death in the face and laughed at some private joke between the two. It made many people on the other team rethink their choice for once.

"Hey, I don't mean to be rude, but he is right. They outnumber us and most of the people on this team aren't exactly athletes." The voice came from Perseus's right and as he turned his head slightly to the side he noticed that it was Will who talked.

Will Solace was worried. For the first time in his life it seemed that he would make it through a whole school year without being kicked out. That was normally good news, but on other hand that wouldn't matter if he was killed in this dodgeball game. Normally he loved dodgeball as it seemed like the one of the few things he was good at. He seemed to have some uncanny knack for knowing where all the players were and where the balls were. He was able to dodge like no one's business. He was also able to throw with crazy accuracy. Personally he thought it was his ADHD that helped him out. However, he usually didn't have to play against kids that were almost as big and muscular as Tyson. Seriously what did these kids eat? Raw meat with a side of steroid injections? Small children?

This Matt Bell gave him a little confidence. At the very least he respected him for saying what no one else had the stones to. Still that wouldn't help them too much during dodgeball. Unless Matt Bell pulled some crazy magic shit out of his ass, then their side would get beaten down and all his words would prove useless. Oh how close he was to the truth without knowing it. Close, but not quite. Tyson began muttering about how the other kids smelled funny, but Will ignored him. He wasn't too surprised after all; they did look like the type of kids who only showered once a year.

Will was hoping against hope that they would manage to win. He desperately wanted to beat Sloan's bullies and have Matt Bell's words prove true. He wanted to expose the bullies for being weak like most of them were. It seemed like there was a little voice in the back of his head that was saying to trust Bell. Will decided that he would. At the very least this would prove to be an interesting end to a somewhat normal school year, well normal for him anyway ‒ there was that year that the whole school except him had randomly started rapping. This one class period would end up blowing all of the other events in Will's life out of the water in strangeness.

The first dodgeball came from one of the beefy visiting kids at a speed that Will had never deemed possible before. It went flying at Bell and the only reason Will was able to see it was because of his ADHD going into overdrive. He wanted to yell out but the ball was traveling way too fast for his warning to reach Bell in time. Bell was just standing there, hands in his pockets, smirk on his face.

It turned out that his warning wasn't needed. Bell dodged the ball without even looking at it. He didn't even seem to move. He leaned as little as possible to the side so that the ball missed, but no more than that. As everyone's eyes widened considerably at such a display, Matt Bell's smirk only grew. "Is that all you got?"

"Uh… uh everyone a-all at once!" Sloan managed to stutter out. Everyone on the other team threw their balls except Sloan. Despite the circumstances Will couldn't help but think that the other team threw balls at each other all the time, if you know what he means.

What happened next could only be described as… godly. Bell dodged every single ball thrown at him. His body was a blur. When he was done he was standing in the exact same place, with an even bigger smirk on his face. Then Sloan threw his ball. Bell caught it easily and then said something that made Will believe that he was definitely a god… the god of Badassery.

"Hey Sloan, I think you dropped this." Bell's arm was a blur as there was suddenly a bright red ball in Sloan's face. Sloan's nose erupted in blood as it shattered and he went down. The gym was silent except for Sloan's pained moans. No one could believe what had just happened. Then the Gym doors slammed shut as if by magic and the six beefy giants became… well literal Giants.

"We Laistrygonians will take great pleasure in eating you Matt Bell. You have made this meal much more interesting. We hope you will keep it up. We haven't had a meal fight back in a long time," the one called Joe Bob said. Well, that explained their size; a healthy diet of school children to help them grow big and strong. Yeah he had the answer to his question about their diet; definitely small children… or not so small children.

And then suddenly Bell was laughing. "Oh, I'm sure I'll make this meal interesting. I don't intend to just fight back I intend to kill you." Will was stopped from thinking about how crazy Matt Bell had to be as a huge, flaming, bronze cannonball flew by and hit the wall, exploding as it made contact. Any jokes about huge flaming balls would just be out of place in this situation. There was after all a large chance of death being dished out with those flaming balls. Haha flaming balls.

'Oh my God were going to die,' he thought as another ball flew by him and exploded against the wall.

"Not 'oh my God', but 'oh my gods'." Bell corrected from over to his left. Will looked over and noticed that he was _still_ standing in the same place, untouched with a smirk on his face. Except now he had a glowing gold sword in his left hand. Well, that was new. There was also a sheathe on his right hip. How Will had failed to notice a sword would forever be in question. He knew he was dyslexic, but missing a freaking sword was borderline blindness. Will recognized the sword from history class as a Roman gladius. He was brought out of his thoughts when Bell spoke again.

"Remember when you said I would have to pull some crazy magic shit out of my ass to beat them in a dodgeball game; well it might not be from my ass and it might not be magic but watch closely because I'm about to pull some crazy shit." Will didn't know how Bell had known about that. He must have spoken his thoughts out loud; how embarrassing. That or Bell was reading his mind, but come on that was just _too_ crazy to believe. Right? "Nothing is too crazy Will Solace. Remember that, it will serve you well in the future." Wrong.

As Perseus, aka 'Matt Bell', dodged, ducked, dipped, dove, and dodged his way to the first Canadian Giant, he couldn't help but reflect on how much he hated Canadians: mortal and immortal. The regular Canadians weren't as bad as the immortal ones, but it was a close call. The mortal ones might not throw exploding bronze cannonballs, or 'flaming balls' as Will had so eloquently put it, but they were hockey crazed and they did think that curling is a real sport, which was almost as bad. Almost… but not quite. So for now the immortal Canadians were worse. Of course, that was subject to change.

As he was thinking all of this, Perseus had finally managed to reach the first giant. It was easy for him to dodge the cannonballs. If you could dodge an arrow you could dodge flaming bronze cannonballs, or something like that. Once he was in reach, Perseus swung his gladius, hamstringing the Canadian Giant. The moment the giant hit the ground, Perseus shoved his gladius through its temple. He was already moving onto the next Giant by the time the first seemed to realize that it was dead and dissolved into golden dust. He quickly dispatched the next two Giants in relatively the same way. He noticed that Tyson the friendly Cyclops had decided to help out and deflected cannonballs at two of the Giants, killing them. That left only the idiot Canadian Giant named Joe Bob. He had also noticed that the shadow in the corner that was a certain daughter of Athena had moved during the short battle. Honestly he had been really tempted to beam her in the face with that first dodgeball for having no common sense. For someone so 'wise' she couldn't even remember that she had a shadow. However, luckily for her Sloan's face was an irresistible target.

Will Solace was currently standing in the same spot he had been in the whole time as he watched Matt Bell 'pull crazy shit'. His legs had decided that no, they didn't want to move. He would have to thank Tyson later. Tyson had deflected all of the cannonballs that had come his way and somehow managed to destroy two of the Giant things in the process. It appeared Tyson had his own 'crazy shit' to pull. Hurray for crazy shit.

On the other side of the Gym Annabeth had been in a similar state. She was a daughter of Athena and was known for her wisdom, but she was shocked. The tough looking cocky kid had not only dodged all of the balls thrown his way in a practically impossible show of speed, but when the Laistrygonians revealed their true nature he didn't freak out like she figured he would. No, he smirked, taunted the Giants, and pulled a glowing golden gladius out of a previously hidden sheathe on his chain belt. She had started to move into action herself, but that made her freeze in her tracks. His sword was gold, not bronze like the very dagger she was wielding or like all of the other monster killing weapons she had seen. And yet, it seemed to do the same job as he had killed the first Laistrygonian with quick efficiency.

She had planned to kill one of the Giants and run in front of the entrance to the boy's locker room. The other Laistrygonians would no doubt be enraged and they would throw the cannonballs at her. She would dodge and the explosion resulting from the reaction of the built up gas in the locker room and the cannonball would have blown a good chunk out of the wall, allowing the others to escape. However, this Matt Bell, whoever he was, made it clear that he could handle the Giants himself as he dispatched the remaining two. Still she didn't want to seem useless, so she decided to sneak up and backstab the final Laistrygonian Giant.

"You're good young hero, but I told Babycakes that I would bring her tasty treats so I will crush you!" Joe Bob yelled out.

"You know for a Canadian you don't say 'eh' enough," Perseus said as he stared down the Giant.

"What? I don't get it?"

"You don't have to. The dead don't need to understand jokes," Perseus said as he began to charge the Giant. However, before he was even halfway there, a bronze dagger appeared from Joe Bob's chest. 'Finally!' he thought with an exasperated sigh. It took her long enough. When this was all over, he would be having words with this apparently lazy, common-sense lacking daughter of Athena on the proper timing of jumping into fights. She had practically waited until the last enemy was dead to make her entrance.

Matt Sloan chose that moment to regain consciousness. Perseus fixed that problem with a quick pommel smash to the side of the head. Really it was the least he could do. He sheathed his gladius not a moment too soon, for moments later the principle and multiple other members of the staff broke through one of the doors.

"What happened here? Will Solace you were here. What happened?"

To save Will from possibly revealing something the mortals wouldn't believe, Perseus decided to intervene. He snapped his fingers and instantly Mist converged around the area and all the mortal's eyes glazed over. "I was here so I can answer that. Matt Sloan and his thugs pulled out grenades and tossed them around screaming about how 'this was only the beginning' and 'they would hit a children's day care next'. I managed to knock out Sloan, but his thugs got away."

Due to his strong Mist manipulation all of the other mortals present were voicing their affirmations. No doubt Sloan would be in a ton of trouble when he woke up, probably in a cell. That's what bullies deserve however. Just because they were weak, they try to make others weak in order to make themselves look better. He hated bullies. Or maybe he was doing this to subconsciously take out his anger about Octavian, since he was the biggest bully he had ever seen and he had been untouchable. Either way Sloan was going to get what he deserved. Then he heard Will ask some man sitting off to the side for his affirmation.

Holy crap! He did not see the Gym teacher that had apparently been sitting there the whole time. The man was practically nonexistent if he had managed to escape Perseus's notice. The daughter of Athena could learn something about stealth from the fossil of a gym teacher. Speaking of her, she walked up to him, Will, and Tyson.

"Come on. We need to escape in the chaos," she said as she grabbed Will by the arm and began to drag him out a hole in the wall. Well thank you Captain Obvious. Nevertheless the girl was his ticket to Camp Half-Blood so he grabbed Will by the other arm and helped drag him out. Well, more like dragged him out by himself; the daughter of Athena apparently had more brains than muscle. Perseus wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not at this point.

Still Perseus turned to Tyson. "Come on Tyson, you need to come too." Tyson obediently followed. He was even kind enough to take Will out of their hands as he slung the poor kid over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Will is not okay. I will carry him for you," Tyson said cheerfully like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Perseus couldn't help it, he really couldn't. He burst into laughter. "Yeah laugh it up sword-boy; you're not the one being carried around like a sack of tomatoes," Will grumbled.

"Potatoes," Captain Obvious pitched in.

"What?"

"The correct term is potatoes, not tomatoes," Athena's daughter firmly stated.

"Whatever! The point is the same!" Will shouted. Perseus burst into laughter once more. He was beginning to like the supposedly wise girl. She obviously wasn't trying to be but she was kind of funny, what with her obliviousness.

As they walked down the street to wherever they were going, every single passerby turned to stare at them. No doubt they looked like quite the group. They had Captain Obvious up front leading them; at least she looked respectable. Behind Wisdom's daughter, an abnormally large kid carried an average sized kid over his shoulder like a barbarian carrying his bride back to his cave, or like a sack of 'tomatoes'; they were dressed like crazy pyromaniac hippies since they were still wearing their partially burnt gym clothes. Behind them Perseus himself walked. He wouldn't lie; with his hair, his scarred lip, chain belt, and leather jacket he probably looked like a street thug. As he thought all of this he laughed once more and watched as the people closest to their group quickly took multiple steps in the away from them.

"Care to share what so funny Chuckles," Will grumbled back to him from atop Tyson's shoulder.

Chuckles? Huh, that was new. "Not especially," he responded becoming serious again as they stepped into a dimly lit alley. For few more minutes they walked through more dark alleys. He was starting to get frustrated with Captain Obvious again. A couple thugs had made moves to mug them, but a quick wolf-glare showed them how much of a bad idea it would be. Perseus didn't mind doing it, but still could she be even more oblivious?

They finally reached a parking lot with only one vehicle in it. Perseus looked at it closely. It had Delphi Strawberry Co. written on the side with a background of rolling strawberry fields. He sighed; it looked like he would be riding the Happy Strawberry-Mobile to camp. Apparently the van already had a driver since 'Wise Girl' got in the side and not the driver's seat. The rest of them got in after and took seats. To tell the truth Perseus was rather happy with that knowledge. He didn't want her driving anytime soon; at least not with him in the car. She also looked to be only thirteen. Perseus was too and so was Will, for that matter so he wasn't sure who was going to end up driving if they didn't have a driver already. Tyson was out of the question. Cyclops may have great dexterity and hand-eye-control, but outside of the forges they had practically no finesse.

During the ride Annabeth, that was Captain Obvious' real name, explained to Will and Tyson that Greek Mythology was real and all that stuff. He had heard the Roman version of 'the talk' from Juno and then Lady Lupa when he was six. However, while he didn't pay attention to that whole talk, he did pay attention once Annabeth began talking about Camp Half-Blood. Juno had discussed it with him, but it was a good idea to get a camper's perspective on the camp since he would be spending the majority of the next few years of his life there. After that talk, came the talk he had been patiently waiting for. Annabeth asked him what he had been doing at Meriwether. That question would no doubt be followed by a plethora of other questions. He had his cover story ready.

"I was looking for a new school to go to," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Based on the way she had explained mythology and camp to them he knew he could easily get a rise out of her if answered her questions in a smart-ass way. A quick mind read proved that he was correct; she was already annoyed. He probably shouldn't do this since he was going to be spending the next couple years of his life around her, but he couldn't resist.

"Okay," she said, clearly trying to not let annoyance show. "So where did you get that sword and why weren't you surprised when the Laistrygonians attacked."

"Wait a moment," Will cut in, "Laistry ‒ what?"

"Laistrygonians, Giants from the north," Annabeth patiently explained. She was obviously not happy at being interrupted, but she was trying to be patient for the new kid.

"Umm in English please?"

"Filthy Canadians," Perseus readily explained.

Annabeth gave a sigh. "Just ignore him and answer my questions Matt Bell."

"Hey I resent that!" Will shouted indignantly.

"My name isn't Matt Bell," Perseus said.

"Okay, then what is it?" Annabeth was already clearly losing the battle to reign in her annoyance. She wouldn't make a very good Roman.

"Jackson, Perseus Jackson." Annabeth might not have appreciated the reference to the mortal spy world, but Will clearly did as he began to laugh. Tyson was just looking out the windows seemingly in his own world. Perseus was tempted to read his mind, but he really didn't want to know what was going on in the mind of the baby Cyclops.

"Alright Perseus, where did you get that sword and why weren't you surprised when the 'Canadians' attacked?"

"Well to answer your second question I wasn't surprised, because they are after all Canadians," Perseus stated with as little emotion in his voice as possible.

Will began to laugh again, while Annabeth let out a long suffering sigh. The driver was apparently listening to the conversation because he began to chuckle as well.

"Never mind; where did you get that sword?" Annabeth wasn't even trying to hold back her great annoyance anymore.

"From my Mother," Perseus answered.

"Alright so you're a demigod after all?"

"Of course, what else would I be? Canadian?" Perseus scoffed. Once again Will and the driver began to laugh while Annabeth seethed and Tyson seemed oblivious.

"Can you be serious for one second?"

"Sure… there done." At that Will simply couldn't contain his laughter anymore and it took him about five minutes to calm down. The driver was only in slightly better shape.

"Whatever, who is your mother?"

"The woman who gave birth to me and the one who raised me." The driver actually had to pull the van over to the side of the road in order to get his laughter under control. Perseus decided to end his little game and get serious… for the most part. "Do you really want to know who my mother is?" he asked.

"Yes!"

"My mother is Hera." The driver had unfortunately been taking a drink of coffee at the time and he spewed it all over the windshield and swerved into the oncoming lane. He straightened out, barely missing a hit from an oncoming car.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Annabeth shouted. "You're lying!"

"I'm not."

"You have to be. There is no way you could be telling the truth."

"Fine," Perseus said, "If you don't believe me then wait until we get to camp." Juno wasn't actually his mother; however, she had told him that he would be staying in her cabin and she would claim him right away when he reached Camp Half-Blood. She would no doubt find the looks of shock on everyone's faces when she claimed him to be humorous. Jupiter wouldn't be able to do anything about it since he had numerous demigods; Juno felt that she was entitled to have some too. It's not like she had actually cheated on him, unlike what he did to her, she had merely become his and Jason's Patron. The reminder of Jason sent a sharp pain through his chest. However, Perseus snuffed it out within seconds. He had a job to do; he didn't have time to feel emotions that would only make that job harder. He would return home in a couple of years anyway so being homesick would serve no purpose.

"I don't get it Annabeth. What's the big deal if Hera has a demigod? You said almost all gods did." Will asked.

"Because Will, Hera is the goddess of marriage. She hasn't ever cheated on Zeus, despite the fact that he cheats on her frequently," Annabeth tried to explain.

"Well, if Zeus has all these demigods, why can't Hera? It just doesn't seem fair at all."

"She just can't Will." Annabeth was truly peeved. First she had to explain mythology and all about Camp Half-Blood to two demigods, one of which apparently knew already, and a Cyclops. Then she had to put up with questioning Perseus Jackson, aka Matt Bell. Perseus had acted childish the whole time. He had deflected all of her questions with a straight face and no emotions. She had a feeling he was being difficult on purpose in order to get a rise out of her. Then when she had assumed he was finally getting serious, he had to go and blatantly lie, straight to her face. It was impossible that he was a demigod of Hera. However, a part of her brain told her that technically she was impossible too. She was after all a literal brain child. Her mother Athena had literally created her with thoughts. That didn't mean that Hera could have demigods though right? Well, Will had actually brought up a good point. Why couldn't she? Hera could have simply done the same thing Athena does to have children. No matter. She would find out the truth when they got to camp.

The rest of the journey passed in relative silence with all of the occupants deep in their own thoughts. The silence was only broken for Will to ask a few questions which Annabeth or the driver attempted to answer as best they could.

As they neared Half-Blood Hill, Perseus thought to himself that maybe this wouldn't be so bad. He would spend the next few years whipping the Greeks into soldiers while occasionally leaving to go on a quest or rescue a demigod. The Greeks couldn't be that bad right? They were known as fearsome warriors so Perseus's job would hopefully not be as hard as Juno had made it seem. He would do his job and then return to Camp Jupiter after he was done. Perseus couldn't have imagined just how hard his job would be.

**A/N Whew that was one long first chapter. I actually wrote this over the course of a little more than twelve hours straight, only stopping to go to the bathroom or to get drinks and food. On another note, I personally have nothing against Canadians or Canada in general; Perseus on the other hand has a bone to pick with that whole country. Love it? Hate it? Review! I need feedback to let me know what I can improve upon and fix any mistakes I've made. Reviews also give me motivation that helps me stay up all night and put out chapters. So again, Review. KratosRain4 out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Percy Jackson, A New Life**

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus, not me. **

**Chapter II Attack of the Bad Cows**

As the Happy Strawberry-Mobile rolled up to a hill, Perseus instantly sensed that something was wrong. Camp Half-Blood was supposed to be protected by magical borders, but he sensed monsters in the area. Well, other than Tyson the friendly Cyclops anyway. No one else seemed to notice anything though and they got out of the van and began to walk up the hill. Perseus followed them up what was dubbed Half-Blood Hill and tensed when he heard the faint sounds of battle. "Come on," he said as he ran further up the hill, "I can hear fighting up ahead."

Annabeth and the driver looked at each other with grim expressions on their faces and ran after Perseus. Will and Tyson followed, but at a slower pace. They weren't trained in combat, nor did they have weapons after all. When their group reached the top of the hill they saw the fight. It was raging at the bottom of the hill they were on; past the pine tree that belonged to a daughter of Zeus and marked the border to camp. Two bronze bulls were wreaking havoc on ten Greek defenders in bronze armor. Perseus glanced back at the driver and Annabeth, but their faces held no answers. They were also too stunned to move. "Shit. Tyson you take the second bull, I'll take the first. Will, hang back for now. You don't have any training and I don't need you getting hurt." Will seemed fine with that.

"No worry. I will crush Bad Cow," Tyson informed Perseus. He was slightly impressed by the determination he heard in the Cyclops's voice. Annabeth chose that moment to break out of her stupor.

"You can't fight them Perseus. You need Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000 if you don't want to get burnt to a crisp!"

"Watch me." Perseus unsheathed his gladius and took off in a sprint down the hill. He heard Annabeth give Tyson permission to enter camp and heard the Cyclops's thundering footsteps behind him. Perseus then heard one of the defenders attempt to call the others into a phalanx. Perseus knew that the maneuver, while effective in most situations, would be useless here; their shield wall wouldn't hold against the bull's charge. As he watched only five other defenders join the girl, that fact was reinforced. Only two of the defenders still had intact spears, while the others had drawn swords. Two of the defenders not in formation were on the ground with cracked armor and probably cracked ribs and restricted breathing. The other two were running around with the plumes on their helmets on fire. Idiots.

The two bulls reared back and began their charge at the weakened defenders shield wall. Seriously, swords and spears wouldn't stop bronze bulls mid-charge. Nor would their shields stop said bulls. Based on the arrows in the shoulder of one of the bulls, their archers had found out that their weapons would be largely ineffective. Based on the fact that there were no archers in the phalanx, it was safe to assume that the archers had found out the hard, painful way.

'Damnation!' He watched the bulls gain speed as they charged and knew that he wouldn't make it in time to keep the defenders from getting run over and burnt. Perseus decided that he would need to level the playing field a bit; he would use his powers.

The others atop hill the hill watched with fear and bated breath as Perseus suddenly jumped into the air mid-sprint. He would definitely hurt himself when he came back down since he wasn't at the base of the hill yet. They looked on in awe as he came down on one knee and slammed his right fist into the ground. The whole hill and the immediate area shook with a mini earthquake, stopping the bulls' charge and causing the defenders to stumble further backwards.

Perseus stood up from his jump and got back into a sprint towards the bull closest to the defenders. The bull turned to him and opened its maw. The defenders and those atop the hill watched on in horror as white-hot flames spewed forth. They figured that Perseus would get incinerated in short order. What they did not expect was for water to suddenly appear from seemingly nowhere and douse the flames. Apparently neither was the bull as its ruby eyes seemed to somehow flash with shock as it briefly paused before charging at this new threat. Perseus waited until the bull was almost right on top of him before he jumped to the right, pushing off the bulls shoulder with his left foot, and cutting a wide gash in its flank with his gladius. He twirled his gladius in his left hand while he waited for the bull to turn around again.

The bull seemed wary of charging again and decided to blast forth fire once more. Perseus wasn't having any of that and he once again brought forth water from seemingly nowhere to put out the flames. As expected, the bull charged at him once it noticed that its target was not in fact on the ground burning. Perseus waited to jump again, this time using the bull's head as a springboard, stepping on the area between its horns. He spun in a summersault in mid-air and slashed a long gash into the bull's back. The bull staggered to the ground. Perseus wasted no time in rushing it and sliding his gladius into the back of its head. As he pulled out his sword, he heard Tyson yell "BAD COW!"

Perseus turned to where Tyson's voice had come from and noticed that the Cyclops's had apparently flattened 'Bad Cow Number Two' while he had taken 'Bad Cow Number One'. Based on the fact that the bull was crumpled up with its head smashed in, Tyson had simply run it over and promptly beaten it to death. Perseus sheathed his gladius and turned back to the stunned defenders. He noticed that Annabeth and Will had walked over, while the driver had seemingly ran into the camp to alert someone of their presence. Captain Obvious once again proved that wisdom did not include common sense.

"Clarisse, what happened here?" Annabeth asked. Two bronze bulls made it past the barrier and attacked. Really, did she not see that? Did a wise brain give her bouts of temporary blindness too? Was that a side effect or something?

"The bulls made it past the border and attacked our patrol. We tried to form a shield wall, but they broke through it with their first charge," the girl named Clarisse responded.

"But how did they get through? The borders were still strong enough to hold back monsters when I left this morning. I know they were weakened, but to fail this quickly…" Annabeth trailed off, apparently deep in thought. Or maybe she was trying to hold back a belch or something, because Perseus hadn't seen her do much thinking in his short time knowing the girl.

"They ran past it. How should I know? You're supposed to be the smart one here, I just kill stuff. Now stop asking stupid questions and let me help my wounded soldiers." Obviously Clarisse wasn't a fan of Annabeth's pointless questions either. At least she had her priorities straight.

Will barely paid attention to the proceedings; he was too stunned by the fact that Tyson had ran straight through the flames and smashed the bull like it had been made of tinfoil. "Tyson, how are you not hurt by those flames?"

"Really Will? Have you ever looked at Tyson, I mean _really_ looked at him. Ignore the Mist and look at Tyson again," Annabeth commanded. Will remembered that Annabeth had told him that the Mist hid things from the mythological world from normal humans. It allowed people to only see what their brains could process.

Will did what she said and looked at Tyson again. He looked past the peanut butter stained teeth; past his big lumpy nose. As he looked Tyson in the eyes he realized it. Not eyes, but _eye_. Tyson only had one eye. That made him a Cyclops. Well, that definitely explained his size and why all the social services workers he and his mom had sent to his alley home had never found him. Will had been best friends with a Cyclops for the better part of a year and he hadn't even realized it, but then again he hadn't realized that the giant friends of Matt Sloan were actual Giants, nor had he realized that Perseus had worn a sword to school for that matter. Wow, he hadn't realized a lot of things lately. Hopefully his bout of missing things would pass quickly; Will liked being able to notice things after all.

Suddenly, Perseus redrew his gladius. Will looked over to where he faced and noticed six large black dogs run straight out of a shadow on the hillside and at towards them. The things looked menacing, with their shaggy black fur and glowing red eyes. They were only slightly smaller than bears. Annabeth drew her dagger and stabbed one in the face, while Perseus thrust his gladius into the neck of one, pulled it out, spun and thrust it into a second dog.

Perseus had barely noticed the arrival of the Hellhounds. He had been trying to get one of the campers with cracked armor out of said armor to prevent it from further constricting the kid's breathing. He had promptly dispatched two of the hounds while Annabeth took down another. The other three Hellhounds rushed past them and barreled towards the wounded campers. One of the campers was still running around with a flaming helmet. He seemed to notice a bear sized black dog coming at him and freaked out.

"Help! My head is on fire!"

"Then take your damned helmet off!" Perseus snarled back. Seriously, there was a little thing common sense. Did none of the Greeks have it? Clarisse impaled the Hellhound running at him with her spear and Tyson pounded another into the ground. However, the final Hellhound had managed to get behind him. It jumped and was about to take a bite out of the Cyclops's neck when it suddenly jerked to the side, an arrow in its neck.

Will watched the others all take out the giant dogs when he saw one sneak up on Tyson. He knew the big guy wouldn't be able to kill it in time, as he was preoccupied with smashing the one in front of him. Will quickly snatched up a bow that must have belonged to one of the wounded campers, notched an arrow that he picked up off the ground as well, drew, and fired in one smooth, seemingly well-rehearsed action. In one quick motion an arrow was flying towards where the Hellhound's neck would be in a second or two. Will was surprised at the sense familiarity that using a bow had brought. It seemed like he had been doing it his whole life. He had barely taken the time to aim too. It seemed like he had instinctually known where the Hellhound's neck would be. Tyson seemed to notice that he was seconds away from having his throat ripped out once the monster exploded in a shower of gold dust.

Perseus didn't understand. Juno had told him that the camp's borders would keep monsters out, but he had just seen two attacks in less than a half hour. Either his luck had suddenly gotten considerably worse or there was some other force at work here. Maybe he was being punished by Fortuna for not stopping Dakota from helping the fau‒ er _satyrs_ get drunk all those years ago on her feast day. The Roman demigod turned back to the hill where Thalia's tree was supposed to provide magical protection to the valley. Well fuck; definitely some other force. The pine tree that contained the spirit of the daughter of Zeus was supposed to be green and healthy. Instead its needles were a sickly yellow color and a pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the center, about three or four feet up from the ground, was a deep puncture mark oozing green sap. He was no botanist, but he was thinking that may not be entirely natural. Some asshole had poisoned Thalia's tree.

That pissed him off. Even though Juno hadn't liked Thalia, she was a daughter of her cheating husband after all, Perseus had respected the girl. Instead of leaving her friends to die and running to safety herself, she had chosen to sacrifice herself to buy them time to get to safety. She had given up her own freedom to ensure the freedom of others had been protected. That was more than many of the heroes in ancient history would have done, and that made her a true hero in his book. To save her from an afterlife of torture in the Underworld because of his mistakes, Zeus had turned her into a pine tree in her dying moments. Her spirit had provided the camp with its magical borders. She hadn't given up on protecting her friends even after her somewhat death. No matter what Juno thought of her, the girl was a true Roman at heart apparently. She knew her duty and she had performed it to the absolute best of her abilities. If he ever met her, Perseus would give her a pat on the back and a salute. She deserved it.

Now some bastard had made a mockery of her sacrifice by poisoning her tree, and subsequently her spirit, in an attempt to weaken the camp as a whole. If he met the asshole who did this they would die. Painfully. Hopefully with a thrust to the abdomen so he could disembowel them. Yeah, this really pissed him off. Perseus was brought out of his musings by the arrival of a Centaur and large group of campers. Obviously the driver had managed to alert people. Took him long enough.

"We saw the Hellhounds attack you on our way over. I'm glad that you were able to handle them so quickly." The Centaur turned to Perseus. "Based on what young Theodore has told me, I have you to thank for defeating the bulls young man. I am Chiron and I run the activities here at Camp Half-Blood. Or at least I used too. Anyway, I'm assuming Annabeth talked to you about camp on the drive here." Perseus nodded. "That saves me some time. Well, until you're claimed you will have to stay in the Hermes cabin." At that a couple of campers in the group, apparently members of the Hermes cabin, let out loud groans. "Come now, your father is the god of travelers. He always welcomes those in need of a place to stay."

There was no need for that after all. As soon as Chiron was done talking, Will and Perseus were claimed. A lyre appeared over Will's head, claiming him as a son of Apollo, and to everyone's surprise, a peacock came into existence over Perseus's head. He had been claimed as a son of Jun‒ er _Hera_. Everyone present, other than Will and Tyson, could scarcely believe it. Thunder rumbled overhead, no doubt Jup ‒er‒ _Zeus_ (damn Greek names) wasn't too happy at this news. Perseus turned to Annabeth with a slight smirk. "Told you so." Annabeth snapped out of her stupor only to glare at him.

To say Zeus was peeved would be a drastic understatement. He was having a horrible week. First he found out that his daughter's tree had been poisoned; now he discovered that his wife had somehow gone behind his back and sired a demigod of her own. He could barely believe it. Hera had spent millennia going on and on about how much she hated demigods and now, she had one of her own. And she called him a hypocrite.

"Wife," he called out, "What is the meaning of this!"

Hera appeared at his side in all her splendor in a flash of gold. "It means just what it looks like. I have a demigod."

"But… b-but you're the goddess of marriage," the King of the gods stuttered out, "You can't have demigods!"

"And why not? You have certainly had plenty. Just because you made an oath on the Styx not to father anymore demigods, you did anyway."

"But when did you do this? I don't remember you being pregnant in the past couple centuries, so where did this demigod come from?"

Hera scoffed, "Just because you have sex with any mortal woman that catches your eye doesn't mean that I do. I didn't sleep around with some mortal to have Perseus Jackson. I simply made the boy my Champion."

"But you can't!" Zeus whined.

"And you can't have any more demigods but you do anyway. You've had the numerous demigods of your own. Do not begrudge me my own. The boy is my Champion so get over yourself. Unless of course you would prefer me to go have sex with some mortal man, because if so you should tell me now so I might hurry up with that." Hera was angry and it showed. Her bastard husband cheated on her constantly, and yet he dared tell her that she couldn't have a demigod of her own.

"N-Now, of course not my Queen. I will of course allow you this boy as your Champion. I just wanted to understand the situation is all." Zeus tried to cut his losses. He could always curse the boy later after all. His wife had cursed enough of his children over the years to give him ideas on what he could do. Hera was very creative with her curses so he had a wide variety of things to do to the boy. Besides it was only fair. If his wife cursed his children it was only fair that he returned the favor and cursed hers. Never let it be told that the mighty King of the gods was unfair. He was a very just ruler if he said so himself. Some didn't agree, but he just blasted them so their opinions ceased to matter.

"And if you get it into your thick head to dare bring harm to my Champion, I will make the Heracles incident look like a happy memory." Hera knew that threat would stop all of his attempts to harm her Champion before they even started. And she was right. Zeus hadn't forgotten what she had done to him after she had found out about Heracles. While she had cursed his son with insanity and made him perform grueling, near impossible tasks, she had done far worse up on Olympus. The very memory of that incident made the King of the gods shudder despite his best attempts not too. He had no wish to relive that memory nor experience anything that could possibly be worse, so Zeus decided that he would simply try his best to ignore the boy. He probably wasn't going to be _that_ important anyway. Right?

Back at Camp Half-Blood Chiron and the campers snapped out of their stupor. The campers all got down on one knee reverently. They stood back up as Chiron spoke once more. "W-Well this is certainly unprecedented. Annabeth, show these two to their cabins. Then come to the Big House so we can talk about your mission and the recent events. You there young Cyclops, come with me. We'll need to figure out what to do with you." Just then a trident appeared over Tyson's head. He swatted at it like it was some sort of bug. "Well, I guess that solves that problem. Still, come with me. We still need to talk. Boys, the cleaning Harpies will bring some clothes and other camp necessities to your cabins for you during dinner, which is in a few hours. Tomorrow after breakfast I'll have Annabeth give you the camp tour. I would do it myself today, but recent events have given me a lot to think of." That was clearly an understatement. "I hope you understand. I'll see you at dinner."

At that he departed, Tyson trailing after him. Apparently Chiron didn't like being called a pony, because he reacted quite indignantly when Tyson said "Sure Mr. Pony." The crowd of campers lingered for a bit after their departure, but they eventually decided to leave themselves. Of course a few wolf-glares here and there served to nudge a couple of them in the right direction. Perseus and Will followed Annabeth to where the cabins were located. He stopped at Cabin Two, the Cabin dedicated to Hera and the only cabin that had previously never been used. It was also only previously occupied by a large statue of Hera in the center and had no furniture. However, Hera had apparently changed that as he was going to reside there for the next couple of years. He hoped she changed that at least. It would suck to live in a cabin with no, well anything. On the outside Hera's cabin was made of white marble, formal looking, and graceful, with slim columns decorated with pomegranates and lotus flowers. Above the door was a peacock.

As Perseus walked in, he noticed that Hera had kept the statue of her and the fire pit at its feet. The walls were engraved with various images of peacocks and lotus flowers. The left side wall had a large queen sized bed against it. At the foot of the bed there was a small chest. The left side wall also had a large wardrobe and several armor and weapons racks. The wardrobe was full of his clothes, including Roman togas, but the armor and weapons racks were bare. It seemed that Juno had in fact given his gear to Dakota and Jason. Perseus mechanically crushed the pain brought on by the reminders of his two best friends. He continued his tour of his Patron's cabin. Against the right side wall there was a large desk and a trash bin. Next to the desk was a cabinet filled with paper and other writing material and utensils. There was also a small alcove about elbow height that had planters. There was no window however, so how the plants would receive light was anyone's guess. Near the back wall there was a door. Perseus walked up to it and opened it. The door led to an Ancient Greek style bathroom, complete with a Greek-style multi-person bath and a shower. There was a bin for dirty laundry and racks containing towels and bathrobes against one of the walls. Near the bath, on a shelf were at least thirty different bottles of soap. Juno had said that she would bring over his belongings, and she had, but try as he might he couldn't remember having so many soaps.

As he left the bathroom and walked back into the main cabin, Perseus couldn't help but think that Hera's cabin was by far the best place he had ever stayed at. His Centurion's quarters had been small and very utilitarian. Hera's cabin also seemed to feel like a home should feel like. It seemed like the cabin itself was providing the feeling since Perseus still felt his true home was at Camp Jupiter. Even so, being in Hera's cabin seemed to lessen his homesickness, if only temporarily.

Perseus checked the pocket watch Dakota had given to him, and saw that he had about an hour till dinner. He would just wear his current outfit to dinner. He contemplated wearing one of his togas, but figured that would be pushing his luck. If he showed up to dinner in a Roman toga he was sure to be discovered as a Roman, not a Greek. Even so, it was funny to imagine at least. To pass the time he decided to reflect upon his observations so far. Based on his short time with the Greeks he could draw a few observations. It seemed that many of them lacked common sense. They also seemed to lack teamwork.

Based on the performance of the campers against the bulls earlier, he would have to say that he was not impressed; disappointed even in the combat skills the campers showed. The Greek hoplites had been famous for their skill in combat. Obviously that skill had degraded drastically over the centuries. The Greek campers had seemed to be trained to fight as individuals and not as a group like the Romans were. Sure, that Clarisse girl had called them into a phalanx, but the phalanx had been sloppy and the campers had gotten into formation in a way that showed that they were uncomfortable doing so. A phalanx was also the wrong thing to do in that situation. They had needed to 'open the channel's'. They needed to provide a path for the bulls to charge down and then attack their flanks as they passed. There were advantages of fighting as an individual, but in pitched battles the campers would be crushed. Since this was a summer camp and Juno had told him that only a dozen or so campers remained year round, Perseus assumed that the campers trained to be more adept in the mortal world. The heavy emphasis placed on individual fighting may be useful in the mortal world where demigods were alone, but in a heated battle, teamwork is what wins the day. Teamwork and group tactics were apparently going to have to be the first things he would have to teach the Greeks.

Checking Dakota's pocket watch again, Perseus noticed it was almost time to go to dinner. He stood up from the desk chair he had been sitting on and walked out of Hera's cabin. Before he left however, he said a quick prayer to his Patron at the foot of her statue. He prayed for strength and guidance; he was going to need it. Sure enough, as soon as Perseus walked out of his cabin and closed the door, the conch horn signaling dinner blew. He sighed. It was going to be a long couple of years.

While Perseus had been in his cabin thinking, Annabeth had brought Will Solace to his cabin and let his half-siblings do the rest. Will was happy to see that the cabin had various instruments lined up on the walls. Music was one of the few things he had been good at, especially playing the guitar. They had shown him to his bunk and the chest at the foot of his bed that would hold his personal belongings. The chest was big enough to hold all of the clothes that the Harpies would bring later and some other stuff. It wasn't too big, but then again Will hadn't brought with him to Camp Half-Blood anything other than the tattered clothes on his back. Thankfully the Counselor, Lee Fletcher, had loaned Will some clothes for dinner. Lee had loaned him a pair of jeans and an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. They had very similar build, Lee had more muscles, so the clothes fit pretty well. As the dinner conch horn sounded, Will followed the others to the dining pavilion.

He was in a daze for most of the dinner, mechanically following the example set by his newfound siblings by dropping the best of his food into the brazier as an offering to the gods. Will looked up from his plate to look around. He noticed that Perseus was sitting at the Hera table by himself, either oblivious to or uncaring of the stares he was getting; probably the latter. Even if some of the campers had seen his claiming by Hera, they still seemed shocked that he was sitting there without getting blasted. Whether by Zeus or Hera was left up to question.

Will absently noticed that the campers of each cabin all looked relatively similar to the others in their cabin. They were all related on one side of their family so it made sense. Will had noticed earlier that almost all of the campers in his new cabin had the same surfer-body, sun kissed blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. There were minor differences between each camper of course, except for Michael Yew. He looked drastically different than anyone else in the Apollo cabin. Yew had black hair and brown eyes. He also stood at about 4'4, so Will, standing at 5'10, towered over him. However, based on what little he had seen it appeared that what Yew lacked in physical height, he more than made up for in attitude. He seemed to have two feet extra in pure attitude alone. Will looked over to where the Athena cabin was sitting and saw that all of them had the same blonde hair and stormy grey eyes that Annabeth had. However, Annabeth was the only one who had those pretty, soft looking, princess curls. Wait, did he really just think about Annabeth's 'pretty princess curls'? 'Yeah it's official,' Will thought, 'my brain has been fried.'

While dinner passed without incident, a couple minutes afterward things deteriorated quickly. Apparently two Ares campers got it into their heads that trying to pick on Perseus was somehow a good idea. Will heard their conversation and couldn't help but marvel at how stupid people could be and how similar bullies were.

"Hey newbie. How 'bout we give you the initiation?" the camper who spoke snickered. His buddy thought it was funny too as he snickered as well. Wow, people really are dumb. Did they really expect Perseus to just go along with it? If so, they were in for a surprise, and probably a painful one at that.

"How 'bout you don't?" Perseus responded.

"I wasn't asking; I was telling." Wow, he sounded like Will's mother, and that wasn't a good thing. Will loved his mother sure, but for a teenager to sound like her? No, that was a bad thing. A very bad thing.

The two Ares campers decided that it would be fun to get their asses handed to them on a silver platter by Perseus. Or at least that's what Will assumed they decided, as one of them threw a punch at Perseus's head. Perseus caught the bulky Ares camper's hand in his own, further surprising all of the present campers. It seemed like they expected Perseus to just stand there and get beaten down. Instead Perseus threw a punch of his own that hit the camper in the nose and caused it to shatter in a spray of blood. The other camper tried to attack Perseus from behind, but never got the chance as Perseus promptly spun and used his right leg to sweep the kid's feet out from under him. As the Ares camper was on his way to the ground, Perseus apparently decided to help speed things along with a downward elbow strike to the forehead. If Will knew one thing, and he knew many, it was that those two wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. Perseus was obviously disappointed in their performances.

"Pathetic. Is that the best this camp has to offer?" Perseus asked incredulously. 'He really wants to make a good first impression, doesn't he?' Will sarcastically thought. Perseus wasn't done however. "You know what? That was trash. If you call yourselves heroes then come down to the sword arena. It seems like I've got a lot to teach you." Will watched the majority of the campers walk down to the sword arena. He had expected them to scoff at Perseus, but he seemed to have made quite the impression on them after all; whether good or bad it at least made them listen to Perseus. Will's whole cabin followed after, so he did too. It would be interesting to see what Perseus had planned.

Perseus planned to give the kids a long lecture. Not the boring kind that teachers gave in schools, but the kind of inspiring speech that made people want to try their best at whatever they did. He was going to turn summer campers into lifelong soldiers. He'd be damned if he couldn't do it. He had managed to bring the Fifth Cohort from a bunch of depressed teens, into honorable warriors. If he could make people honor the most dishonored Cohort since the fall of Rome, he could make these kids soldiers.

Up until now, Perseus's night had been fine. When he walked up to his table at the start of dinner, Dionysus had noticed him. "Hmm, so you're Hera's demigod. No doubt dearest father is not happy." The god of madness and wine had a red face and a pudgy belly. He was wearing a leopard print Hawaiian shirt, walking shorts, and tennis shoes over black socks. Over all, Dionysus looked generally unimpressive, but Perseus knew that looks rarely mattered when you were faced with a god. Most would underestimate 'Mr. D' as the others called him, but one look into the god's purple eyes told all that Perseus needed to know. He might not be able to read the god's mind, but he didn't need to in order to see the raw power and the glint of pure madness in Dionysus's eyes.

"You're Dionysus, the god of madness," Perseus said.

Dionysus looked slightly surprised that Perseus had known that. "Yes, I am, but most simply refer to me as 'Mr. D', 'the wine god', or if they want to be turned into a strawberry plant, 'that wine dude'. Few remember that I am also the god of madness. You would do well to remember that, young man." There was no doubt that Perseus would. "Now, go eat. I'm sure I'll see you some other time considering the fact that father is forcing me to stay here and watch over this infernal camp."

Perseus had indeed sat down and ate dinner, after giving a portion of his food to his father and Hera of course. The food had been fine, and he just ignored the stares that he seemed to be attracting. Instead, he was trying to think of ways to approach the campers about their training, or apparently their lack of training. He could talk to that Clarisse girl and the other defenders personally of course, and he would, but it would take some effort to discuss the problem with the camp as a whole. It would probably require discretion.

Apparently not. The two idiot Ares campers that tried to 'initiate' him had presented him the perfect opportunity. In a gesture of thanks, he had broken one's nose and knocked the other out cold. No doubt they would appreciate his gesture when they woke up.

As he followed the other campers down to the arena he came up his plan. Perseus looked through the crowd and was slightly glad that he saw Will. He saw Annabeth too, but she probably just wanted to see whatever he had planned from an intellectual standpoint. She probably expected him to crash and burn after coming up with some half-assed plan on the spot. However she would be surprised, Perseus Jackson never came up with half-assed plans.

He walked into the sword arena and waited for everyone else to be seated in the stands. They were obviously interested in whatever he had to say. He noticed that some of the campers looked peeved that he, some new kid, had called them together like this. He didn't care; some of them would be pissed by the end of this anyway. Most however, would hopefully be ready to become soldiers.

"I've only been here a few hours, but already I want to leave. This camp is a joke. You call yourselves heroes, but really based on your skills you should call yourselves fools. This camp was set up to train the next generation of heroes, with the belief in mind that each generation would surpass the last. Now this camp has become little more than a glorified day care center. If the great heroes past like Achilles, Theseus, Jason, or Odysseus were here they would be ashamed at the caliber of heroes being trained. I saw the schedule; canoe lessons, really? How is learning to ride a canoe going to help you survive in the mortal world? If this camp is supposed to teach you to become heroes it is doing a shit job of it. None of the people I have seen from this camp have impressed me at all. When I was wandering the country, I read stories about how fearsome the Greeks were supposed to be. Well you're a disgrace to your ancestors."

Perseus paused to let that sink in. Some idiot camper yelled out, "So you're some kind of great hero? Is that what you're telling us?"

"No," Perseus responded, "I'm just the guy who kicks ass and who's going to be teaching you to kick ass. The most famous Greeks are the Spartans. Everyone has heard of them. Well, the Spartans didn't become great by learning to canoe or sing sing-alongs around a campfire. They became great through blood, sweat, and tears. They worked their asses off day in and day out for years. Most of you campers are only here for the summer. I understand that you have lives in the mortal world as well, but if the camp is supposed to prepare you to survive there it is doing a horrible job. I can see that there are no demigods older than eighteen here. Some of them might be going to college, but most are probably dead. The older a demigod gets, the more their aura stands out which in turn attracts more powerful monsters. None of you would be able to survive a real monster attack right now let alone years from now when the more powerful monsters hunt you down. I'm not talking about one or two Hellhounds, I'm talking about dracanae or empousa or gods forbid a drakon. Those bulls a few hours ago almost tore through your measly defense. If they had gotten through, they could have burned this camp to the ground. Your tactics and skill almost let that happen.

I understand that you have been taught to fight as individuals, but that is going to change. We are going to be in a war against the Titans soon. With Thalia's tree poisoned and the borders weakened, you can expect a lot more monster attacks in the future. Some of those attacks will make the two bronze bulls look like stuffed animals. Since you can expect more attacks, I'm going to teach you how to fight as a group. I will teach you how to survive as a group against much larger groups of monsters. I will teach you the tactics that your ancestors used to show the world that the Greeks are a force to be reckoned with. I will train you to be like the ancient hoplites that held the pass of Thermopylae. You are the Spartan hoplites with a much smaller force, while the monsters are the Persians. Right now the Persians could use their much larger numbers to decimate you. If you were the three hundred soldiers at Thermopylae, Greece would have been conquered. If you let me, I will make Spartans out of you. You will be able to stand strong against the monster onslaught by the time I'm through with you.

Are you willing to let me teach you? The road will be long and hard. If you let me, I can guarantee that at the end of this summer you will be soldiers damn it. You won't be as good as your ancestors. No. you will be better. I will forge you into soldiers that even the mighty Roman legions would think twice about attacking. When you return to the mortal world you will be ready to face down any monster with calm confidence and skill. No longer will you have to run, or change schools every year to avoid the monsters on your trail. You will finally be able to take a stand and the enemy will die before they know what hit them. When you return to the mortal world, the monsters will be expecting weak demigods that will be an easy meal. Together we can show them that you are the legacy of the mighty Greeks. You are no easy meal; you are heroes! SO ARE YOU WITH ME!?"

The response was deafening. Every single camper present was shouting their affirmation. They wanted to be heroes that even the heroes they looked up to would be jealous of. They wanted to be heroes; no, they needed to be heroes. This new guy was right. They didn't take their duty seriously. He had reminded them that it was their duty to be strong enough to protect the mortals. Without them, the monsters would run rampant. It took a while, but they eventually quieted down enough for Perseus to begin talking again.

"The first thing I will teach you is tactics. You need to what to do in what situation and when. After I teach you to instinctually know what to do in any situation we can begin the physical portion. You will learn to put your tactics to the test. Combat will be drilled into you. No longer will you have to think about a move before you execute it. Instead, you will just execute the move on instinct. Next, I will teach you to fight as a group. You will learn to trust in your fellow heroes to do their job while you do yours. After that, you will cease to be campers. You will be soldiers.

Since I have all of you together, this is a good time to correct your mistakes. Would the campers that were on border patrol when the bulls attacked come down here? I will show you the correct things to do in a situation like that." Perseus waited for the five and Clarisse walk down. He noticed that they didn't look too happy about being called out, especially Clarisse who was seething. Well too frickin bad. If they had done their job properly they wouldn't have to be called out in front of their fellow campers. Perseus figured that Clarisse saw him as trying to usurp her 'leadership' position at camp. Again, too frickin bad. If they had been doing their jobs it wouldn't have been necessary for Hera to bring him here to do it for them.

"Right, now line up in the phalanx that you were in when the bulls charged." They did. "Now, in this situation you need to‒" Perseus was cut off by Clarisse.

"Where do you get off telling us what to do? You gave a nice speech with plenty of pretty words, but who died and made you the god of battle tactics? I don't think I like listening to you. I can lead this camp myself!" she shouted as she drew her sword and charged at Perseus. The crowd watched with bated breath. They wanted to see if Perseus was strong enough to make them soldiers like he said he would.

Perseus didn't even bother drawing his sword. He dodged Clarisse's wild downward slash and used his palm to push her blade to the left. That move put her off balance and she stumbled forward. Perseus kicked her feet out from underneath her and drew his gladius, positioning it at the base of her neck. The campers in the stands were dumbstruck once more. In less than a minute Perseus had beaten one of the best campers they had.

"Fine," Clarisse forced out even though it obviously pained her to do so, "You win. You can be the leader of camp."

"No."

"What?" Clarisse asked incredulously.

"I didn't beat you to become the 'leader' of this camp. True leaders aren't chosen; they are made. A true leader is the person who takes charge when no one else will and leads his or her troops to victory despite the odds. I beat you to prove a point. Your skills were nonexistent and your form was sloppy. You attacked in a blind rage. Rage is one of your best assets in combat, but only when you don't let it get away from you. You did just that. You let your rage control you. You must learn to control your rage, but let it flow. If you do that you will get all of the benefits of your battle rage but none of its disadvantages. It is all about balance. Your father is the god of war, and you want to make him proud right? Well then learn to fight with skill and not just blind anger. No hero ever gained greatness by being a crazy berserker. There are practically no famous children of Ares in history. Do you know why? It is because they let their anger get the better of them. If you want to be the first famous child of Ares in hundreds of years then learn from the mistakes of the past.

You have it in you to be a great leader Clarisse. When the bulls attacked you were the only defender to somewhat keep their head. In order to become the great leader that you can, you have to learn tactics. Yes, you must lead from the front, but being a good soldier is different than being a good leader. When you are a leader, the troops under your command look to you for guidance. You won't be able to give that guidance if you are too busy being angry. Do you understand?"

"Y-yeah I do." Clarisse seemed like she had expected something different upon being defeated. Apparently so had the shocked campers. They had expected Perseus to boast about his superior skills and mock her. Instead, he had given her advice and even somewhat praised her.

"Good. Then get back to where you were in the phalanx." After she did so Perseus resumed correcting their mistake. "Right, as I was saying. When faced with a large monster that can break through your shield wall with a charge, you need to 'open the channels'." Perseus put his sword in between two campers and gently pushed them to the side, separating the campers into two groups of three. "You need to line up one behind the other facing the opposite side. Imagine opening a gate and letting water flow through. You are the gate and the monster is the water. Now that you have provided a path for the monster to charge down, it naturally will. Then, when it gets parallel with you attack its flanks." Perseus spent the next couple minutes further explaining the maneuver. As he finished, the curfew conch sounded. The campers and Perseus all walked back to their cabins deep in thought. No one even complained that Perseus had taken up so much time that they couldn't do there nightly sing-along. That was probably a good thing. If he had heard someone complain about that, Perseus would have called them out and lectured them about keeping their priorities straight. As the campers walked to there cabins, none of them noticed two figures standing near the far edge of the arena. Both figures were astounded, but they were wary at the same time.

Chiron had a lot to think about the recent arrivals to Camp Half-Blood. Will Solace seemed to be a typical son of Apollo, but the Cyclops and the other boy required more thinking to understand. Chiron had talked to the Cyclops and explained the 'no eating currently or recently living beings' policy that was enforced at camp. The Cyclops was still a baby and Chiron doubted that he would cause any problems. The other boy however was what Mr. D would call a 'wildcard'. Based on what Annabeth had told him about this Perseus Jackson, the boy had already known about the mythological world. That point was reinforced by the fact that the boy had a monster killing weapon and had said that Hera was his mother. It was likely that Hera had told the boy of his heritage and played a part in his arrival here.

But what was Hera's ploy? What did she have to gain from this? Thousands of years of contact with the gods and training their mortal children had given Chiron many insights. One of them was that whenever the Queen of the gods made contact with a demigod, she was planning something. Hera normally hated demigods, so this Perseus must be special. Chiron doubted that he was truly a son of Hera. Hera had brown eyes and a son of hers would probably inherit those at least, not the sea green eyes that pointed Perseus out as a child of Poseidon. But Hera had claimed Perseus and not Poseidon. It was most likely that Perseus was Hera's champion; the first since the original Jason millennia ago. The fact that Hera had revealed her champion now was suspicious. Perseus had the bearing of one used to leading and the camp lacked exactly that, a leader. Chiron sighed. He would be leaving after tomorrow anyway so he could use his time away from camp to examine Hera's motives.

Instead, Chiron would go back to examining her apparent champion. The first thing he had noticed about the boy was his weapon. The fact that he already had a weapon was suspicious in and of itself, but Perseus had wielded a specific weapon. He had been using an _Imperial Gold gladius_. The type of weapon used by a camper in the Roman camp he was forbidden to speak of. Perseus had dispatched the Hellhounds with quick thrusts that spoke of Roman training. Chiron had noticed that Perseus had been wearing a purple shirt under his leather jacket. It was more than likely that the boy was a Roman. Hera had brought a Roman to the Greek camp. Now Chiron was back to wondering what Hera planned. Chiron decided that he would watch Perseus closely during dinner.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how one looked at things, nothing interesting had happened during dinner. Perseus sat by himself and quietly ate his food. Chiron absently noticed that the other demigod Annabeth brought back, Will Solace, seemed to be in a daze. It was common for new demigods to feel overwhelmed when they first arrived. It would pass in a few days' time. However, that only made Perseus even more suspicious. He looked perfectly calm while he was eating. Even if Hera had told him about Camp Half-Blood prior to his arrival, he should have still reacted some way to recent events. In the whole time Chiron watched him, Perseus showed no emotion. Mr. D had said that the boy he had talked to the boy before the start of dinner, and Chiron knew the god well enough to know that the boy had piqued Dionysus's interest. Perseus had called Dionysus the god of madness, whereas most only knew him as the god of wine.

After dinner, Chiron resumed his thinking while he trotted back to the big house. He stopped however, when he heard a commotion over by the sword arena. He wondered what was going on. Chiron was the activities director and he knew that he had not scheduled anything for tonight. Judging by the level of noise, most of the camp was there. It was possible that there was a fight going on between two cabins or something similar. It wouldn't be the first time and it wouldn't be the last, but Chiron would go to make sure that whatever was going on didn't get out of control. He would stay back in the shadows and simply watch. He wouldn't interfere unless things got out of hand.

He had been expecting a fight, but what he saw managed to astound him more. He hadn't seen anything like that in all his millennia as a trainer of heroes. Perseus not only got the campers to commit to training harder, but he also talked the fiery daughter of Ares into listening to his advice. Clarisse never listened to advice. This event only reinforced Chiron's thoughts that it was no coincidence that Perseus Jackson had been in the gym when Annabeth went to pick up Will Solace.

"Quite the camper isn't he?" Chiron wasn't surprised to find Dionysus beside him. "He is, as the mortals say, 'shaking things up' I see."

"What do you think old friend?" Chiron asked.

"I think that I'm going to miss our games when you leave after tomorrow." The god of wine responded.

"I'll miss them too. With my past, I'm not surprised that I was the first suspect." Dionysus had deflected his question so the god was probably trying to stay out of Hera's sight. Dionysus wouldn't do anything about it unless he absolutely needed to. Chiron understood this, so he allowed the conversation to steer in a different direction.

"Dearest father is just looking for someone to blame. You will probably be back after this gets resolved… one way or another."

"Probably another. You know as well as I do that the only way to save the camp would be to somehow obtain the Golden Fleece in the next two weeks. We could send out a quest, but with no way of knowing where the fleece is it would be pointless."

"Well maybe we should send a quest. At the very least we might… ah, _lose_ a few campers."

Chiron decided to ignore that. He knew that Dionysus didn't share his own enthusiasm for training young heroes. "Hopefully my replacement will be somewhat competent."

Dionysus laughed at that. "Oh, father said he would send Tantalus to take your place as a sort of _probation_." Chiron paled. How could the gods send someone with that kind of track record to a camp full of teenagers? Did they forget why he was sent to the Fields of Punishment in the first place? Chiron would pray that there were no problems. "At least it will be somewhat interesting after you leave. Still I will miss our pinochle games." Chiron knew that was the closest Dionysus would come to saying that he would miss him.

"As will I, old friend, as will I." Chiron would help Annabeth give the new campers the camp tour tomorrow, though he suspected one of them wouldn't need it, and then he would pack his bags. He would try to find some cure for the poison when he was with his brethren, but the chances were slim. Without even knowing what the poison was, it would be near impossible to find the cure. Unless the gods gave them some sort of miracle, Kronos would win this round. Chiron had a feeling that maybe Perseus Jackson would be this miracle. Only time would tell. He would go listen to his records in the meantime. Ah, how Dean Martin always made him feel better. It was a shame that Mr. Martin hadn't been a child of Apollo. If he had, Chiron would have petitioned the gods to make him immortal. Ah well, at least he had his records.

**A/N There is the second chapter. I hope you like it. It would have been finished sooner, but I ended up deleting and rewriting Chiron's part a bunch of times. I'm still not completely happy with what I have, but oh well. In unrelated news I broke my left thumb for the second time yesterday. It really sucks, because I happen to be left handed. It doesn't affect my typing too much, but it does affect everything else. My parents won't let me borrow the car to go to the hospital to get it x-rayed and get a cast, so I ended up wrapping it with athletic tape. Needless to say, my thumb hurts. You know what will help the pain go away? Reviews! Well, I wish it would. It will make me feel better mentally, if not physically. So leave a review, especially on the Chiron part at the end of the chapter. I felt like I wrote him slightly ooc. KratosRain4 out.**


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